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National Red Dress Day  |  MAY 5

Red dress day is a day of honouring missing and murdered Indigenous people. It’s a day to raise awareness and education about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, two spirited, and men. Red dress day started as REDress project established by Indigenous artist Jamie Black to focus on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women across Canada and United States in 2010.

“The REDress Project, focuses around the issue of missing or murdered Aboriginal women across Canada,” says Black. “It is an installation art project based on an aesthetic response to this critical national issue. The project seeks to collect 600 red dresses by community donation that will later be installed in public spaces throughout Winnipeg and across Canada as a visual reminder of the staggering number of women who are no longer with us. Through the installation I hope to draw attention to the gendered and racialized nature of violent crimes against Aboriginal women and to evoke a presence through the marking of absence.”

The dresses are empty, so that they evoke the missing women who should be wearing them. The colour red was chosen after Jamie Black had a conversation with an Indigenous friend who shared with her “(Red) is really a calling back of the spirits of these women and allowing them a chance to be among us and have their voices heard through their family members and community.” Red also symbolizes “our lifeblood and that connection between all of us, and both vitality and violence.”

The REDress project lasted beyond its initial installation in 2015 and has been exhibited in more than 30 locations in Canada and the United States. The art installation inspired a grassroots movement, with Canadians across the country displaying red dresses to honour the thousand plus missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada. The project even inspired Singer-Songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie to hang an empty red dress prominently on stage at each of her concerts.  There is even a Red Dress Jingle Special, which is performed at many powwows.

On May 5, Canadians are encouraged to wear red and display a red dress at their residence or business. Those taking part in Red Dress Day are encouraged to share photos on social media using the hashtags #mmiwg #reddressproject and #reddressday

 

CONNECT WITH LOCAL FIRST NATIONS      |     NVIT  +  Memorial Garden      |    Scwexmx Tribal Council

MONITOR ABORIGINAL ALERTS

The City of Merritt respectfully acknowledges that Merritt is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Nlaka’pamux and Syilx people.
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